


Recruitment

by alessandralee



Category: DC Bombshells (Comics), DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Misses Clause Challenge, Yuletide 2015, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-08 12:51:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5497679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alessandralee/pseuds/alessandralee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amanda Waller makes Zatanna an offer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Recruitment

**Author's Note:**

  * For [valkyrierising](https://archiveofourown.org/users/valkyrierising/gifts).



> I really, really hope you enjoy this. It was challenging to write, but in a good way.
> 
> Thank you to [plinys](http://archiveofourown.org/users/plinys) for look this over

She’s never considered herself much of a team player. She’s spent far too long with only herself to rely on. It’s easier to escape by the skin of her teeth when she isn’t dragging soemone else along behind her.

Even the rare occasions that she’s ended up working with John Constantine have usually ended with them going their separate ways as quickly as possible.

So when Zatanna wakes up in some military bunker in god only knows where, her plan is simple.

User her magic to sneak out, get her bearings, and chart a course for some new city.

Anywhere but Berlin is a good start, she’ll figure out the rest after some thought.

But apparently someone has already predicted her moves, because within minutes of her regaining consciousness, John is escorting her through the halls with purpose.

The easy guess is that he’s taking her to meet the mysterious Amanda Waller, his boss in whatever it is that brought him to Berlin in the first place.

Military intelligence? The mystical grapevine?

Maybe both. John has always been able to keep his secrets well, so Zatanna wasn’t able to get more than a name from him.

The halls in the base are emptier than she would have expected in the midst of a war. She can hear faint noises from behind most of the doors, but there isn’t a soul, military or civilian, who crosses their path.

It sets her on edge. It makes every corridor look exactly the same, so it’s hard to keep track of the endless circles John has her walking in.

As if she doesn’t have other means of finding her bearings.

When they finally stop in front of a door, it leads into some sort of waiting room. All the chairs are empty, even the one behind the secretary’s desk.

John pauses before the next door, then shifts slightly so she can’t see into it before leading her inside.

A tall black woman waits for them, behind another bare desk. Her presence takes up most of the room.

If this is Amanda Waller, then she’s not far off from what Zatanna imagined.

She’s certainly intimidating, but Zatanna has been scared plenty of times before.

This woman can’t possibly compare to the Joker’s Daughter. That torment was something else entirely.

Amanda Waller nods towards the two chairs opposite her desk. It’s not an order, and Zatanna certainly isn’t a soldier, but she takes a seat anyway.

She’s still recovering from her escape from Berlin. Playing nice while she can saves her a lot of effort.

If Amanda Waller wants to talk, then Zatanna can certainly listen.

But she’s not sticking around. She’s had her fill of war, and now it’s time to wait it out.

The United States is still watching from the sidelines, mostly. Perhaps she’ll head to New York. Then, if the tides turn, she can always head south.

She spent too long in Berlin, waiting for an escape route to present itself. New York will offer her several quick exits, and plenty of people to hide amongst.

“I’ll be brief,” Commander Waller begins, and her American accent takes Zatanna for surprise.

She’d assumed Waller would be British like John.

If Zatanna’s going to head to New York, it seems like she’ll definitely need multiple plans for escape.

She raises her eyebrows to look curious, still content to play along.

“I’d like you to come work for me,” Waller states, exactly as expected.

“And why would I do that?” Zatanna asks.

She’s playing along, not playing completely dumb.

“You’ve seen the evil the Germans are willing to work with,” Waller reminds her. “And evil Mr. Constantine tells me is still out there.”

John nods in confirmation.

An evil they were lucky to escape from, if Zatanna’s being completely honest. An evil she’d like to get as far away from as possible.

“They’re hardly the only ones who have turned to the occult. Italy, Japan, even some of our allies. And there are only so many people with the necessary skills to combat that,” Waller explains.

Again, Zatanna isn’t surprised. Her father had known people who worked magic as warfare during the Great War. This one is bigger, uglier. Of course the magic is too.

But it’s still not worth risking her life over. It will pass, the danger always ebbs and flows like the tide.

She just has to wait.

“Nowhere will be safe from this,” Waller tells her. “I don’t care where you’re thinking of running to, this will catch up with you. Hitler won’t stop until the whole world is under his thumb, and you’ve got a target on your back twice over.”

Zatanna sucks in a breath. She’s a Jew, she’s Romani, but if she takes up with Waller, that’s a third target on her back.

And it’s one that will keep her out in the open.

Now would be the appropriate time to disappear. There’s nothing keeping her trapped inside the building, not a single defense against people like her.

Except for Hitler’s threat. Except the demon from Berlin.

Except for Waller’s words.

“And what do I get out of this?” Zatanna asks.

She can see John flinch out the corner of her eye. Is it surprise? Fear? Clearly, it’s rare for people to talk to Commander Waller like this, but she’s not particularly concerned.

After all, it leaving is suicide and saying is suicide, then she just has to choose whatever offers her slightly better odds. And for that she needs all the information.

“Support,” Waller starts with. “Money, boots on the ground, whatever you need to fight. We’re taking this threat seriously.”

That would certainly be a change from how she’s spent most of her life, scrambling from city to city, squatting where she hopes she won’t be found.

Barely scraping by.

“I can also offer you a team,” Waller says.

John’s eyes widen, and Zatanna can say for certain that it’s in surprise this time.

“We have very few people who are familiar with the mystical arts, and even Mr. Constantine will be busy with other assignments. But I have a team full of individuals with unique gifts. I’d like to place you with them.”

“Unique how?” Zatanna asks.

Not magic, but something comparable if Waller wants her to join them. She’s curious.

“An alien, a Russian defector who flies on a broom, a woman who can breathe under water and talk to sea animals, the Batwoman of Gotham, and an actual Amazon of myth,” Waller states. “Among others.”

It would be safer to say no, probably, safer to hide, safer to wait.

But Zatanna has already done so much hiding.

“I will need at least a day to rest,” she says.

She’s tired of waiting. If she waits any longer, she’ll die before she gets to live.


End file.
